Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should not be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field.
Aesthetically pleasing exterior decking partially or completely surrounding at least one level of a residential dwelling construction is known. Decking is traditionally made of wood for its ease of use and installation. In recent years, decking has also been made from wood-plastic composites (WPCs) which mimic the appearance and feel of timber. Neither timber nor WPC decking is fire resistant. Consequently the hazard of using such material to build decking particularly in fire prone areas is prohibitive. Separately, construction of decking, could also be prohibited by local or national building codes or regulations.
Attempts have been made in the past to modify the physical properties of timber to improve its fire resistant properties. Such attempts include, for example, impregnation of timber materials with fire retardant chemicals. The cost of treated timber is higher than that of untreated timber, which in turn impacts the end-user. There are also environmental concerns when using treated timbers due to the increased possibility of environmental pollution should the chemicals be released from the timber.
Furthermore the original method of fastening building materials, such as decking or cladding, to underlying support structures has been nailing through the face of the building material and into the underlying support structure. Face nailing is quick and requires a minimal initial skill level but subsequently requires a higher skill trades person to disguise or obscure fixing points to enable an acceptable finish level to be created in the completed construction.
Different cladding applications require different nail installation techniques, either ending in nail heads sitting just above the cladding surface, flush with the cladding surface, or punched below the cladding surface. When installing over large cladding expanses, nailing to a consistent nail head position is difficult. In addition, nailing or screw fastening onsite is not desirable when the cladding material is prefinished with a decorative surface coating. Precoating fasteners to colour match provides some level of disguise but the actual fastener heads are still visible, detracting from the aesthetics of a completed wall section installation.